Ponzi Scheme? Of Course! If the Shoe Fits, Wear It!

SEE HERE Everyone in their right mind knows that the Social Security System is a Ponzi scheme. The problem is that it is supposed to be and presented as an investment, a sort of retirement program. You and your employer pay into the system and you get benefits that you paid for out of the system later. It could actually work that way. In fact with a real monetary system that preserved wealth and a growing economy you could easily benefit more from the current system run as an investment program than you do today. The trouble is that it isn't run that way. You are basically lied to and told that the investment is secure because it is backed by the full faith of the federal government which then simply drops it into the general fund and issues pieces of paper saying that it owes the money back. Then it spends it, often on things that bear little relationship to the original program's intent. At the beginning of the program there were something like 23 people paying in to each being paid out. Now it's more like three or four, and soon it will be two. Then the baby boom bubble is hitting and it's anyone's guess if the system will hold up. Likely not without some reform.

If you could count on government being honest maybe something sensible could happen. But if you are someone who looks at the past to tell you what is likely to happen in the future, then the whole idea of honest government seems like an oxymoron. So we may be in for the time of our lives.